(CBS News) "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" made its debut 50 years ago, April 16, 1962 as a 15 minute broadcast. For generations of Americans, the simple words spoken at the top of the broadcast, "This is the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite," were a comforting, nightly cue to stop and listen for a moment to the man affectionately known as Uncle Walter. "The relationship America has with Cronkite is intense and very personal," historian Douglas Brinkley said. "He broke through the glass." Walter Cronkite dies at 92 Cronkite: In his own words Cronkite was, quite simply, a member of the family present each night at dinner with a snapshot of the day. "He had an impact on this country like reporters never do," said CBS News Chairman and "60 Minutes" executive producer Jeff Fager. "I mean, imagine a reporter is considered the most trusted man in America. That's the kind of legacy that's unheard of." For Cronkite, it wasn't immediate. Despite his years as a respected … [Read more...] about CBS News marks historic Cronkite anniversary

CBS News Correspondent Byron Pitts has been named a contributing correspondent to 60 Minutes it was announced Jan. 13, 2009, by Jeff Fager, executive producer of the broadcast. Pitts, who has appeared on 60 Minutes periodically since 2006, will be featured regularly beginning in the 2009-10 season and will report at least six stories. He will also continue to work for the CBS Evening News With Katie Couric, but with the new title of chief national correspondent."It was time to share Byron Pitts' extraordinary talents with millions of viewers in primetime in addition to our Evening News audience," said Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports. "Byron has certainly earned the opportunity." "Byron is one of the finest reporters in the news business and it is gratifying that he has worked his way up right here at home at CBS News," said Fager. "He is a first class human being and a terrific correspondent. I am excited about working with him and proud to have him join us at 60 … [Read more...] about CBS News’ Pitts Joins 60 Minutes

I’ll start with an anecdote. About four years ago I wrote something that mentioned in passing the fact that Adam Lanza used an AR-15 rifle in the Sandy Hook massacre. And for months afterward, I got email after email from irate readers insisting this was not the case. Their theory, in broad strokes, went like this: Lanza had used semiautomatic pistols to carry out the assault, and the media and the government were claiming he used an AR-15 because they were looking for reasons to ban that particular weapon. It’s an example of what we would now call “fake news,” but at that time, it was just a regular old conspiracy theory. Thankfully, the conservative blogger Erick Erickson wrote a piece in the weeks after the shooting insisting that Lanza had used an AR-15. I forwarded his post to the people emailing me and, if memory serves, that always ended the discussion. They trusted Erickson, and if he said it was an AR-15, then that’s what Lanza must have used. … [Read more...] about CBS News Logo
Commentary: #Pizzagate and the broader problem of “fake news”

(CBS News) Renae Chapman, the wife of the first American servicemember to be killed in the Afghanistan War, said the ten years since his death has been "really tough." Chapman said she wishes "she could say it gets better, but it doesn't." Her husband, Sergeant First Class Nathan Ross Chapman was a member of the special forces and was killed in Afghanistan less than three months after the official start of the war. His death is remembered as the 2000th American servicemember was killed Wednesday in the war that has been America's longest, lasting more than ten years. Chapman began to cry as she recounted her late husband, with whom she has two children now aged 12 and 13. "The hardest part is losing how funny he was. That's really the biggest part," Chapman said through tears. "I miss him more. It's worse [now]. Much, much worse," Chapman said. Nearly as long as Chapman, who attended President George W. Bush's State of the Union speech as a guest of First Lady Laura Bush in 2002, … [Read more...] about CBS News Logo
Widow of first servicemember to die in Afghanistan War still struggling with loss, VA